The tool

AiAD for Inventor

Inventor has the power. This is the part that knows the shop.

AiAD for Inventor adds an AiAD tab to the Inventor ribbon. It takes the repetitive, error-prone work between a finished sheet-metal design and a workshop order — show sides, flat patterns, materials, names, exports, bending drawings, quotes — and does it the same way every time, part by part, with a report of what it did.

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The ribbon

The buttons, grouped as they sit on the tab.

Prepare
  • A-Side Outer / InnerThe show side on every selected part, and its flat pattern.
  • Set MaterialMaterial and thickness from the plate as it measures, not as it was typed.
  • Stock RulesEvery material and gauge your shop stocks, as sheet-metal rules on the parts.
  • Full FixRules, true stock and names in one sweep.
  • Rename PartsClean names in the order you pick them; the assembly follows.
Deliver
  • Export by the LawThe whole work, out: cut files, folded parts, bill, manifests in three languages, bending sheets, bolts and nuts, nesting. Run it again and only what changed goes out.
  • Bending DrawingsA blueprint sheet for every bent part, mirror pairs on one page.
  • ExportCut files and 3D for just the parts you selected.
Check and price
  • CheckIs the work ready to quote: materials, gauges, stale files, cut files that really cut.
  • QuoteThe job, line by line, the way a workshop prices it.
  • NestingHow many sheets the cladding takes, and what is left of each.
Light
  • LED ModulePick a cladding panel; get a frosted acrylic diffuser with its light tunnel, placed behind the panel, ready to cut.
Shop floor early
  • Bend PlanThe order a brake closes the bends, with the tools for each.
  • Press BrakeThe machine and tool set the plans follow.
Learn early
  • FacetA sculpted surface becomes flat panels with sketches.
  • RecordRecords how you work, so the engine can learn it.
Why it is different

It was built in a workshop, not for a demo.

It measures before it trusts.Thickness comes from the metal, not the parameter. A part that claims 5 mm and measures 3 is flagged by name before anything goes to the shop.
It refuses what a shop would refuse.A cut file that does not close, a blank smaller than its part, a gauge nobody stocks — stopped, with the part and the reason.
It was built on real work.Twelve studio works and over a thousand parts went out through it before it was offered to anyone.

Runs on · Autodesk Inventor 2023 · Windows · version 1.2.0 · Inventor 2024 and later: coming

Try it — early access
The AiAD software

Autodesk and Inventor are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. AiAD is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Autodesk.